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Black Adam Targeting 2019 Production Date, Says Dwayne Johnson

Black Adam has a script and a tentative production start date in 2019.

In a new interview with Yahoo!, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was asked if he could provide any updates on the previously announced Black Adam solo film. While Johnson couldn't provide too many details, he did confirm that a script had been turned in and that, although it was "great," they were still tweaking things. Still, the actor believes a 2019 production start is entirely possible at this point.

"The script came in, it’s great, we’re working on it," he teased. "If things come together in the way we anticipate them coming together, then that feels like a 2019 movie in production."

Johnson was officially announced as the DC Extended Universe's Black Adam back in 2014, but the film remains in development. Last October, Undateable creator Adam Sztykiel was brought aboard the project to pen the script. While updates since Sztykiel's hiring have been few and far between, Johnson's comments suggest the writer turned in a draft recently and that there's still some work to be done before they're comfortable moving forward with production. This isn't entirely surprising, since Black Adam has been a passion project for the actor, who is coming off of the blockbuster Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and currently conducting a press tour for Rampage.

The actor seemed to imply the Marvel Cinematic Universe is partially to blame for the delay. “Marvel is doing such an incredible job of universe building … and DC is doing a great job finding the footing and tone of their movies,” he explained. "It’s this phenomenal opportunity for us to nail the tone and make sure he’s badass... Also, we have intrinsic DNA tied to a lot of other properties in DC."

While there’s still no release date set for Black Adam, New Line and DC Entertainment’s Shazam! is slated to hit theaters on April 5, 2019. That film stars Zachary Levi in the titular role.